How could a Christian nation even make Duterte the leading presidential contender?

First of Two Parts
Next to belief in God, the most basic tenet of Christianity, and in this century, of civilization itself as we know it, is reverence for human life.

The two beliefs are in fact linked, since human life is a gift of God, and no human, no human institution, can take it away. Pope John Paul II even pointed out that such reverence for life isn’t a metaphysical concept but the basic foundation of modern civilization as we know it: “Only respect for life can be the foundation and guarantee of the most precious and essential goods of society, such as democracy and peace. (Evangelium vitae, 1995, no. 101).

Catholicism, which purportedly 90 percent of Filipinos embrace, in fact has been the biggest organization to champion, actually in this century, a total reverence for life. It has opposed capital punishment and birth control, arguing that even the State does not have the right to snuff out a convicted criminal’s life, and the Catholic Church even admonishes the State to prevent a woman from ending the natural gestation of a zygote.

So how could Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte – who boasts of killing people where they stand, who makes a sick joke about an Australian lady’s corpse, and advocates killing criminals en masse without due process – be a leading contender in a presidential contest?

Duterte has been the first politician – really, the first Filipino ever – to be given a pulpit to express such reckless disregard for human life. In a recent interview, he claimed he even ordered the bodies of the 16 hostage-takers to be just “put in a big hole” somewhere in the public cemetery. It is certainly not surprising that he is the one and only Filipino politician to have told the Pope, “putangina mo.”

Pause for a while, think about it and you will really be shocked as I have been in the past few months. In any civilized country in the world, a candidate for whatever public position, who professes such beliefs such as his right to kill criminals where they stand, boasts he shoots a suspected criminal in the head after he is asked to kneel down, would be considered a nut case, or be sued for criminal lunacy – even if he claims he has made a ‘Singapore’ out of what used to be a poor city he led as mayor.

Is he even part of our civilization? Duterte, who has boasted he killed criminals himself.

What happened to this purportedly Christian nation that it would even think of electing as father of our nation somebody who doesn’t share Christianity’s belief and modern civilization’s basic tenet that human life, even that of criminals, must be revered?

Duterte’s I-will-kill-criminals-where-they-stand demagoguery, which appeals to the basest instincts of man, has certainly won him a following among the masses who themselves have been the most victimized by criminality and lack access to a functioning legal system.

They hear only what they want to hear
His elite backers – the most with responsibility to educate the vast masses – utterly block out of their minds Duterte’s unequivocal statements betraying his utter lack of reverence for life, his rejection of due process and the rule of law. What they hear from Duterte they revise according to what they want to hear.

For instance, one of Duterte’s biggest and most articulate supporters is former SEC chairman Perfecto Yasay, Jr. Yasay is not only steeped in the values of Western philosophy, a licensed law practitioner in New York, and therefore, one who really understands the importance of due process and the rule of law. But not only that, Yasay’s father is a pastor, and he himself has been a leader of the Philippines’ branch of the United Church of Christ – a Protestant denomination that has historically demonstrated such respect for life that it has always opposed capital punishment, even before the Catholic Church did.

What is Yasay’s response to my question whether he supports the extrajudicial killings in Davao City? He says, what Duterte does “is not different from the killing of (international terrorist) Marwan in Mamasapano.”

That shocked me when I heard it. Marwan has gone through the most rigorous due process in this planet, having been indicted in Philippine, US and Australian courts, with the US FBI putting him in its most wanted list. Marwan had surrounded himself with explosive booby traps (which killed four police commandos) and with three platoons with sniper rifles of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and other armed Moro groups.

Yet, Yasay says the killing of Marwan is of the same kind as Duterte’s and his Davao Death Squad’s murders from 1998 to 2015 of 1,424 suspected criminals, none of them charged in court, according to a research by Fr. Amado Picardal. This included 57 females and 132 young people – 126 boys and six girls – not more than 17 years of age. All were unarmed when they were taken, with some killed by Duterte himself, according to his boasts.

Coming from a family of Protestant missionaries, Yasay would have had many friends who must have gone to remote ministries, like Australian missionary Jacqueline Hamill did, though she ended up raped and killed in Davao City in 1989.

What did Yasay say of his friend Duterte’s sick joke, made after seeing her dead body that he felt he should have been first in the queue to have her since he was (he still is) mayor of the city where it happened? “It should be appreciated and understood in its proper context. Indeed, the masses have not taken offense at Duterte’s gutter utterances,” Yasay said on his Facebook post.

Yasay told me: “You are being moralistic for political partisan purposes.” I invoke a basic tenet of Christianity and I am being moralistic?

I have discussed Yasay’s views at length since his case demonstrates, as I will show in the second part of this essay, quite well how shallow really has been the veneer of Christianity, and belief in the rule of law among Filipinos, even among the elite, due to their still basic tribalism.

Yasay’s views are typical of those who refuse to hear that Duterte is espousing vigilante death squads, rather than merely invoking the police’s right to defend themselves with lethal force, as stated in the following rant by one Andoni Valencia, an employee of Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines, who seems to have so much to write about Duterte such as in the following press release: “Killing? What’s the problem with that? Duterte made it clear that when apprehending crime, especially drug pushers and drug users, will be bloody because obviously these criminals will fight back.”

‘God ordered killings’
What’s chilling about the views of this presumably Christian young man is his perverted interpretation of the Bible, oblivious that the New Testament is a big leap from the tribal barbarism of the Old Testament: “I am a Bible-believing Christian, and let us not forget that in the Bible, even God ordered men to lead revolutions (bloody ones) to cleanse the nation. He even used an adulterer, murderer, womanizer, etc. to lead nations.”

Another example of hearing not what Duterte says but what they want to hear, or what is acceptable to them is that Philippine Star columnist Carmen Pedrosa.

She has written over two dozen columns praising Duterte, her main message – that Duterte is “destined’ to be President since “millions of Filipinos” are supporting him. I scoured her many columns, which, however shirk from explaining Duterte’s shocking boasts that he has killed criminals themselves, his jokes on molesting his household help (a venial sin only, he said, since he really did nothing but go to the bathroom to masturbate), and his now infamous sick necrophilia joke.

She offers only one weird explanation for Duterte’s utter lack of reverence for life in her thousands of words praising him, as if there was an esoteric secret the killer revealed to her:

“I now understand the reasoning behind the need for punishment (according to Duterte). It comes from Plato’s Laws.

“It is a custom of our justice to punish some as a warning to others. For to punish them for having done wrong would, as Plato says, be stupid. What is done cannot be undone. The intention is to stop them from repeating the same mistake or to make others avoid their error. We do not improve the man we hang: we improve others by him.“

She quotes Duterte as having invoked Plato for his policy of executing criminals without due process? I wonder why no other reporter or columnist has reported Duterte as quoting Plato.

It is really not surprising that Pedrosa’s interpretation of Duterte’s vigilantism is unintelligible, as her columns have been merely wordy versions of Duterte posters, and of her screaming her lungs out as if she were in a Duterte rally, with such titles as “The Duterte crowd is everywhere,” “Duterte kami,” and “We want change, Duterte, Duterte, Duterte.”

One of the shocking statements in her columns was when she wrote that this killer, this necrophilia, is “God’s miracle” to the Philippines. That, of course, jibes with Duterte’s megalomania, that he will save the nation from criminals, in six months

I have discussed Pedrosa’s views, since her case as in Yasay’s situation demonstrates, as I will explain on Wednesday, quite well how shallow really has been the veneer of Christianity and belief in the rule of law among Filipinos.

If Yasay and Pedrosa are right, that Duterte is just saying he has the political will to go after criminals and prosecute them – and not really to kill them where they are found – do they really think that this Davao mayor would get the support of even a fraction of his adoring, angry masses?

82 Comments

The victory of Rody Duterte in Philippine presidential race has nothing to do with religion. It is the absolute will of Filipino people to change the country that prevails. This clearly tells that Christianity and the Roman Catholic Church has failed to fool the Filipinos with all its deceptions to keep Filipinos calm even in the midst of poverty and chaos. This is what exactly the church has done to the nation so that we will remain in the cage of ignorance. Religion particularly the Roman Catholic church is a perfect weapon used by the Illuminati Secret society to keep the masses ignorant about the truth. It was a very sickening truth, the true reason of Philippine poverty..

is the Philippines really a christian nation??? is it not a religious nation mr. tiglao.?????
who are the politicians that were supported by the so called christians,,,hindi ba karamihan ay maraming kapalpakan….kahit sino ang iboto natin kung hindi kagustuhan ng Diyos na manalo,,,hindi mananalo…EVERYTHING has a purpose…the BEST thing to do is to check our PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with the TRUE GOD which is JESUS CHRIST……

When you wrote this one have you thought about yourself? The truth is there is no true Christian among the candidates. They are all boasting they could solve the Philippines’ problem on their own! So, why not vote for one who have the guts to eliminate those lawless criminals!

But even in the absence of religion Duterte’s brand of justice and tyranny has no place in the 21st century. This man has been playing on people’s fear. I’m a born and raised Davaoeño in my city he is the law, he thinks he knows what’s best for everyone. Yet he talks about murder and rape like it’s a normal thing to do, he is not a good example. He has a foul mouth and he is a tyrant. He can’t take criticisms he will resort to name calling or worst violence. I am as puzzled as you Mr. Tiglao. Indeed what has the world gone into?!

I am very disappointed with Mr. Yasay and Mrs. Carmen Pedrosa ! Their principles and morals are gone ! WE will not vote for the criminal DIGONG ! WE , the decent Filipinos don’t deserve a self confessed killer , womanizer , corrupt , human rights violator President ! DIGONG don’t have concrete platform of government ! All he know to solve problems that beset our country is to kill people ! We need a President who respect the rule of law and respect people as human beings ! The good will always prevail over evil ! WE are for #ROXASROBREDO they are the team with integrity , character , credibility , they are faithful to GOD , country and to the Filipino people ! They are the team na tunay na may malasakit sa bayan at sa mahihirap nating mga kababayan !They are self less , true public servants ! GOD bless our country and all of us Filipinos !

Keep writing Sir. I am for Miriam and the only candidate who I believe fit to be the President of this country. She once win but lost to Ramos due to massive cheating and the people of course know about this but the people are weak and divided; hence, another bogus President took over Malacanang. The first one is Cory, the third is Gloria for having snatched the Presidency from Fernando Poe Jr. I am not surprise why Duterte is gaining ground in this presidential election. One reason is the misleading and illegal publication of survey from paid and manipulated, biased survey firms such as Pulse Asia and SWS Survey. I pray that if Miriam wins she will ban publication of survey as it does more harm to the people and to our democracy. Duterte has good points but compared to Miriam, I believe that she is far better than the former. I hope that people will choose her so our country can stand up from where it stumbled after the EDSA revolution of the Yellow oligarchs and their minions and the dwindling REDs.

You have the nerve to discuss the basic tenets of Christianity,yet why are those politicians you are portraying to be holy worse than the man you vainly demonize in this essay.We don’t care if we will suffer by our own decision as long as we dont suffer under your politicians false promises.We have suffered a lot under the leadership of the saintly evils. Now is the time for an evil saint. Sorry for the words.

true. the people like tiglao who condems duterte are hypocrites. duterte is a killer of thugs, rapists, drug lords..etc etc. atleast they are not innocent citizens like those who died in zamboanga drought the government officials and the president had given bullets instead of food.nor the SAF44 killed in MAMASAPANO, people who should STILL be alived today if the bloody people in our government could only be more caring, decisive, responsible people who value the life of those INNOCENT dead than their Ambition.

Kapag nahalal na Presidente si Duterte, papatayin o ipapatay niya ang lahat ng criminal at nagtutulak ng droga sa buong bansa sa loob ng anim na buwan, na sa akala niya ay totoo o hindi. Duterte’s plans or promises to the voters are all BS.
Were all criminals/drug pushers in Davao eliminated by Duterte or his death squads? Remember he is the leader of Davao City, as their mayor, for more than two decades.
I have not been to Davao at all, but I am certain that lots of criminals/drug pushers still exist there. How can his administration, if elected President, get rid of all the troublemakers in the entire republic within six months, or even his entire term (6 years)? Just be mindful of who you give your vote to this coming election. I fully understand the corruption happening in the Philippines. Again, it does not make a difference who will win this coming election, the ongoing corruption or troublemakers cannot be completely eliminated in the Philippines. However, to elect a known murderer, as Duterte proclaimed, without affording judicial hearings of his victims, are totally insane. God Bless Philippines.

as he always mention he will kill those killers of innocent people. Bad guy’s rather killed than innocent. And with respect to Australian lady. I value the revenge duterte did for her rather than the joke he made

What is the root cause of the drugs in our country?/???? POVERTY due lack of employment and Filipinos became lazy at this generation. They want easy money.. I heard from somebody , if you want to become rich, get into the business of drug syndicate, you will become rich instantly. Lack of employment and poor educational system in our country.. We enjoy freedom in our country but without discipline..
The rich nation like in Japan, and elsewhere in Europe, they enjoyed freedom with self discipline. This is what we need in our country, DISCIPLINE…and for the love of GOD. Good teaching in school will educate our people what is wrong and what is right.
True Christian people , help to feeds the poor people without asking in return.

Duterte is a lawyer. Before he became a mayor he is a a city prosecutor and he knows what happenings inside the court. If the judge is not in his court and attending seminar somewhere then that means court hearing is cancelled. So the slowness of dispensing justice is the reason why duterte wanted a swift justice to begin with by ala Dirty Harry!! Filipinos are tired of this rule of court.

I fully understand and sympathize to people who were victims of crime, because my family has gone through this kind of pain. But then how about people that are wrongly/falsely accused, they won’t have a chance to defend themselves in proper rule of court. What the government need is to overhaul the Philippines justice system. If ever Duterte will win and can influence to make that happen then I would say ” e di wow!” , and lastly, God please bless the Philippines. Still I remain to support the slogan
“Ipagpatuloy ang daang matuwid”.

lets stop being hypocrites sir you know more than that memes started decades ago its only now that there will be shiftings that will happen in individuals and most especially to nations and specifically to the philippines. how can god the creator bless this country if its full of garbages thats why he will be cleaning it first he will use his people to do it so please stop being judgmental. LET GOD BE GOD

How can a Christian country have so many corrupt elected/non-elected officials?
How can a Christian country be so corrupt? You think the other politicians are less evil?
Wala ngang mapagpilian! Doon na lang sa nagtatrabaho at may malasakit kahit papano.

So Mr. Tiglao, who do you think should be the next president?? Since you’ve been attacking Roxas for more than a year, Poe with her citizenship and now Duterte for being unchristian! Please enligthen your readers as to who would best lead our country?

I am a current 13A Permanent Resident of The Philippines, my adopted country with most respect for the Philippine People. I see Duterte as The Donald J Trump of The Philippines. Why: Because I see in Duterte showing allot strength just like Trump possesses too. A man could only be in most instances the one most capable of strength & of course best suited as the toughest negotiator in the roughest of situations. The only exception of a woman elected showing incredible strength as well as resolve in getting things done was the Iron Lady. Prime Minister of England Margaret Thatcher. I hope & pray that the Philippine People choose the strongest person possible to keep their beloved country strong as well as safe for everyone, including those of us who are permanent residents of The Philippines. Dave(Hurricane)Sawyer BAGUIO

.
To God be the glory!!! Amen. I always believe that in the battle between good and evil , the good always prevails. An intelligence officer of the Philippine National Police (PNP) disclosed over the weekend that the police’s intelligence networks have received reports that supporters of presidential aspirant Rodrigo Duterte had started deserting him. Well, that’s a good sign. Thank you Lord at marami na rin ang naliliwanagan ng kanilang mga isipan. Huwag mo pong pababayaan ang mahal naming bansa at mamamayan.

And here’s another very good sign. In another development, Christian Churches sa bansa ay nagkaisa sa pagtuligsa kay Duterte hinggil sa kaniyang napakasamang biro tungkol kay Australian missionary Jacqueline Hamill who was slain after being raped during a prison riot in Davao jail in 1989. The Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches, on behalf of 33,000 evangelical local churches with millions of members scattered around the country, had written Duterte telling him that his sick rape joke is an insult, is offensive and sacrilegious, to the family of the late lady missionary Jaqueline Hamill, the Christian church, the missionary sending country and the mission society who saw her death as the ultimate sacrifice.

Dapat lang naman, di po ba? Rape is not a joke. It is a serious crime. It’s about time for us to seriously re-examine our Christianity, our Christian values and our personal relationship with our beloved Lord Jesus Christ!!! As a Christian nation, we must not make Duterte as the president of our beloved country. We must not throw our principles and Christian beliefs down the drain and to the garbage bin. Kung kontra sa ating paniniwala at pananampalataya bilang isang Kristiyano, siyempre hindi na natin dapat na gagawin, di po ba? Of course, not. It is indeed a hypocrisy to do something which is against our Christian belief. Sayang na lang ang pagka-Kristiyano nating mga Filipinos kung mala-demonyo naman ang pag-iisip ng ihahalal nating pangulo ng ating mahal na bansa. Nasa bandang huli pa naman palagi ang pagsisisi. We cannot really afford to go through the same shit all over again or even worse for another six (6) long years. Kaya isip isip pa more mga kabayan.

You talk nonsense, sir. You only base your ideas on what is being feed to you by other journalists and media men like you. You have not done any research on the very life of our beloved mayor and the kind of person that he is. You didn’t know that our mayor prays and go to church and that is because journalist don’t write about it and mediamen don’t cover it (knowing our mayor, he doesn’t make such a show-off). Let’s talk living-out a Christian life, sir:
When you see hungry people, what do you usually do?
Our city provides lugaw intended for the homeless but anyone who would want to eat can freely get one for him/herself.
When you see sick people, what do you do?
Initially you might pity them, pero ano’ng naitulong ng awa mo?
Our mayor oftentimes visit the House of Hope. A house intended for the cancer patients, patients who are NOT residents of the city. Often he asks them to write a wishlist and grants it. The patients received whatever they have written be it a motorcycle, laptop, or even a helicopter ride with a crush (which is the wish of one patient). He is a good friend to the patients that he’d call the lads “brod” or “migo” (short for amigo). We often see him trying, as he can, to hold his tears from falling for these friends of him. He doesn’t want to make a drama out of it. Because he wants to do more than just cry for them. But again you don’t know this because journalists like you don’t write about this.
Our mayor loves to be with ordinary people than the with the elites. We know this and we can testify of this, not because we see this in media, but because we personally experience it (without camera, without documentation). When he talks with us (ordinary citizens) he talks like we were just like his neighbors. You will only see him enraged when talking to criminals. We can say a lot about our mayor, sir, coz we experience him personally. This election have made us see how the media twist stories and how they actually magnify the lies. Sayang po yung talino mga talino nyo. You are not really concerned about the country. You are only concerned about its image. You are only concerned about the OLIGARCHS!!

“who professes such beliefs such as his right to kill criminals where they stand, boasts he shoots a suspected criminal in the head after he is asked to kneel down”. Mr. Tiglao, I did not expect that you now subscribe to Lt. SG Trillones’ idea. What’s this, the enemy of my enemy is my friend? The DDS was an idea coined during Davao’s desperate times in the 80’s as something that the NPA sparrow death squad should fear. I suggest you research more on this one.

Now we are choosing what is wrong and what is right. Are we choosing the wrong actions to make things right ? Now I know that million Pilipinos are lost . Pilipinos lost the main objective of Jesus which is Love.

‘Next to belief in God, the most basic tenet of Christianity, and in this century, of civilization itself as we know it, is reverence for human life’.

Maybe we should question this precept, in order to come into an understanding, how Philippines or Filipinos had fallen off the path of righteousness, and we need not look far behind where all these came from – in the past nearly six years of misrule of democracy, Filipinos have come to see how life had been so undervalued by those who were voted and swore to serve the public at large.

Poor Filipinos can see as vividly how their lives are made worthless by no less than the president, who calls them ‘boss’. BS Cojuangco-Aquino III has so much blood on his hands, that it makes the transgressions of Duterte of lesser consequence and in the process makes him look meek – can we blame the Filipinos now for growing tired of the slogans of ‘daan matuwid’, level-the-playing-field, and inclusive growth, when it all centers only on the few wealthy and powerful interest groups in our society today?

We need to look deep into ourselves, because religion as bases of morality had been rendered ineffective in our society, both by the church and the government, our society has become a society of patronage and not of faith with pure conscience. This is the end result of how greed of money and power can create an evil entity in each of us – we have to fix the system in order to fix our society.

I would rather see the drug addicts, rapists, thieves and corrupt government officials killed than innocent Filipinos who are being victimized by these group of evil people. Many Filipinos are dying without even seeing a doctor, many lives have been wasted because they have been deprived of opportunities by so-called decent people who steal people’s money left and right, many families continue to struggle to find food to put in their stomachs…..when will this ever stop?! This will only get worse if your candidate wins! Kay Duterte pa rin kami! Filipinos are sick and tired of the hypocrites in our society. We want change!!

Millions of young Filipinos are not going to Sunday masses anymore. Why? Because they are victims of the drug menace seeping into all levels of our doomed society. From gated subdivisions, ivory towers down to urban homes and the slums. What has the church done about this drug problem? Is this drug menace being condemned in homilies during Sunday masses? The drug menace is never the central topic during Life in the spirit seminars. Duterte is challenging this evil curse which is eroding the fabric of the Filipino youth and carrying its burden like a cross to calvary. The nation should march behind him to lighten his burden. The Filipino people can overcome this drug menace in less time than what Duterte promises if all support his crusade.

Duterte has not and will not condone extrajudicial killings. He has always been clear on this. He is the only candidate who has the guts to deliver what this country needs. A visionary leader who follow and implement the law, and that is who and what he is. A leader who will do exactly what needs to be done to put everything in order.

Has Duterte ever been charged with, or convicted of, having committed any of the killings he boasts of or attributed to him?

Hope you can enlighten us by citing specific cases Duterte has been charged with in the second of two parts of your report

BTW, in Mark 12:29-31, “There is no other commandment greater than these”:

“The first is this … You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself …’”

I think the “most basic tenet” of the Roman Catholic faith is professed in the Apostles’ Creed during the liturgy of the Mass, and the most relevant to those who decide to cast the first stone is this:

In Check and balance or two sides of a coin, let’s analyzed the other side;what the criminals had done. They also kill/murder or hurt. Think of those Moro’s who beheaded soldiers. Think of those drug lords and pushers who makes like miserable for the addicts and the family of these addicts. Some addicts losses their heads and even killed their own family or ransacks whatever things they can sold to pay for their cravings. Their future is gone. There is no justice for the victims if it happened the criminals has plenty of money to spare to our justice system. That’s what makes this new kind of christian voters as you say gone depressed. They seek CHANGE or ADVENTURE in the leadership of a strong man as their own. Why blame them> The corrupt who keeps on enriching themselves. The generals who makes money out of bidding laws and the small percentage of rich Spanish and Chinese families who are benefactors of the Daang Matuwid.?????

my goodness, here we go again, whats next? that he is gay? the anti-christ? son of Satan? and now Yasay and Pedrosa – whos next? – his children? you should have learned your lesson by now that IT ALL BACKFIRED! THROW MORE STONES AT HIM AND WITH THOSE STONES WE WILL BUILD HIM A MONUMENT .

btw, he is pulling away and only cheating will stop him…maybe its time to dig the goodness inside this man and i guarantee you an honest and caring person.

Next to belief in God, the most basic tenet of Christianity, and in this century, of civilization itself as we know it, is reverence for human life.
There is no reverence for human life here in the Philippines. People are killed over songs at Karaoke events, or for a couple of peso. The Church is a major hindrance in the advancement of the country, because of its archaic influence over the masses (pun intended). How can society develop when all they have to do is go to church, be forgiven and then resume their criminal corrupt ways, knowing that all is well?#
There is no reverence for life by the owners of public transport, who use substandard vehicles driven by substandard drivers.
There is no reverence for life by car drivers who carry their children loose in cars.
There is no reverence for life by motorcyclists who do not wear PPE, who were flip flops (slippers) etc, who over-load their bikes and who do not maintain their vehicles.
There is no reverence for life here because life is cheap.

when you try to read the bible.there are a lots of children of God who killed thousands of people because they are against the government and the law which God had build.One example of that is king David. Any people who go beyond by the restriction of law is the enemy of God.Lawless elements who dont afraid to kill innocent people,continually dealing drugs that ruins the lives of our youth and their future is against to the will of God.If death is the consequence of the inhumane act that they have done.so be it.

When God drove Adam and Eve out of Eden, bombed Sodom and Gomorrah, massacred the inhabitants of Jericho and drowned all of mankind in the Great Flood, was He being Christian? My point is that if the devil can appear to be a saint, can’t God look like the devil, as he did in the examples above? The bottomline is, if Duterte is unChristian, what is Binay? Better still. lets not compare politicians to Christ, baka biglang bumalik yung Panginoon before its time, leaving us sinners unprepared for judgment day. On the other hand, this sinner will gladly welcome it if He comes back to rapture all these Corista Christian Yellows out of this world, as that will turn this country into a paradise overnight. Politics may be a farce, when you mix it with religion, it becomes comedy.

We cannot compare God to humans in understanding and wisdom for His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways are higher than our ways. Man’s knowledge is only foolishness in God’s sight. God cannot be questioned by a mere human being who is only a creature and finite in all his ways and doings. In the Book of Lamentations here what it says, 37Who can speak and have it happen
if the Lord has not decreed it? 38Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? 39Why should the living complain when punished for their sins? 40Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. 41Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: 42“We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven. Thus, are we more than God? We are only just a drop in the bucket and like grasshoppers in His sight. My point here is, God is the only one who can punish, discipline or chasten His creation with no one who can question or go against Him.

With Duterte is he God? What mandate he has to put justice in his hands? Is he absolute in his judgement or nevertheless he has his own shortcomings that needs to be judged more than anyone else?

Critics who keep harping on rape and murder and hang these labels on Duterte are only driving more people to vote for him. Why not change tact and focus on qualifications, performance, programs and plans instead? Is media so lacking in ability to get out of its sensationalist and slogan-centered coverage mindset?

This morning Fr. Aurelio Picardal had stated that Davao Death Squads in 1998 had killed more than 500 minors and young adults on suspicion of drug users and engaged on illegal drugs. They were killed and some police officers were convicted by court but the Mayor had been charged of administrative neglect as he did not even lift a finger to investigate or order investigation into the cases. What this means? The Mayor had been freed from any liability due to lack of witnesses, who were all afraid and would not testify. Later on the “aguinaldo doctrine” was invoked and the Mayor had been cleansed of his crimes and tolerance of the perpetrators prevailed. Are we not worried that he had killed or has ordered killed more than 1,000 maybe some innocent people without due process and because he is doing it with approval of unthinking Pinoys and the military? Think again our fellowmen. Something is not right with this candidate that you think can save our country from hell>

There is so much hyprocricy in the country. While we claim to be the only Catholic country in Asia, 90 percent at that, how much Christianity is there in the country? Even with the so called leaders, the elite and the ‘intellegentia’, how many of them really lead and care for the people leading the kind of life expected of lthem.

We talk of killings which is always attributed to Duterte because of his blunt pronouncements. Has anyone thought of the slow and sure painful killings of hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of Filipinos because of the hardship and poverty as a result of all the corruption in the government, injustices and economic ‘strangulation’ of the rich and powerful for many,many years in the country? These, too, are ‘virtual’ painful killings!

The people are so fed-up that they seem to go for the Machiavellian theory; the end justifies the means. Duterte sings the tune the poor who are taken advantaged of, the downtrodden and the underprivileged want to hear. Can you blame them? The change is NOW!

If Yasay, Carmen Pedrosa, Cayetano and Rev. Quibuloy could throw their weight on Mayor Duterte, something is shining through from thislks with sonababitches and motherfvcker expletives to fire up his men. uncouth man. By all means possible for a local leader, he turned Davao City from a killing field frontier town into an orderly, progressive city, relatively untouched by violence in terrorists-strewn Mindanao. If he can duplicate this throughout the Philippines, by hooks or whatever he deserves to be President.

Let him utter those local dialect epithets the way Gen. Patton laced his pep talks with sonafabitches and motherfvcker expletives to fire up his troops into action.

we are not a Christian nation. only in paper and by name but if you look at it we are nation of crooks. look at the children sleeping in sidewalks, beggars, rising crime. etc. that is not the way of a Christian nation.

Probably you have to admit now that roman catholicism is a failed religion here right? Since majority of the elected officials from before up to now are catholics. Majority are corrupt who gave the cause for filipinos to act as they are acting now. PURE DESPERATION TO ELECT A CONFESED KILLER. May god help the philippines. Maybe the title of your next article should be, “PHILIPPINES: A FAILED CHRISTIAN NATION BY ITS OWN DOING!”

If d30 is to become prez and will tolerate extra judicial killing this country will be another nicaragua in the 70’s where there will be spate of killings. There will be lawlessness instead of peace and order. There will be mass demonstrations. So who are we going to be blame. Do you put the right person on the job. Lets all think of our countrys future and not swayed by false promises after all if that happens. We can only blame ourselves.

Your comment is wrong because you pressumed that Duterte is not fit for job,but on the otherhand you did not praise him for what he did in Davao City from the killing fields turn into a pregressive City so it means you dont know him in reality Give him a chance and he will prove to you that he is a capable person to lead this Country.

30 years of increasing grinding hopeless poverty, corruption at all levels of government, a series of presidents who are unable to meet even mediocre standards of development, a government which cannot even secure its sovereign territories in Mindanao and the West Philippine Sea, rampant crime on the streets, etc.,etc. And the question is asked how a Duterte could rise to power? The answer is self evident.

Good article and analysis specially the last paragraph. What a revelation of what we’ve become unfortunately. I believe that this cynicism will somehow be reduced by a succession of upright administrations like Mar’s and Leni’s which i know you don’t support.

No..it’s not a good article if you are aspiring to the real truth.
I’ve never seen 90% quoted as the proportion of catholic births in Pilipinas.
Also,born a Catholic doesn’t make a christian,nor does it result in a Catholic.
What is a christian in the context of Pilipinas? I would expect a far higher standard of trustworthyness (in respect of their duties to serve the people) of all staff in all government departments and religious orders in a so-called christian country.
Having 80-90% catholics does NOT make a country great and honorable.
Duterte is a chance to take before revolution becomes inevitable.
The majority of struggling pilipinos have had enough lies,plunder,and corruption for over 30 years!